NOVO-OGARYOVO, April 13. /TASS/. The implementation of projects in the Russian Arctic must not be postponed because of sanctions; on the contrary, their implementation rate must be increased, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on development of the Arctic.
"Now - taking into account all kinds of external restrictions and sanctions pressure - special attention must be paid to all projects and plans related to the Arctic. Not to postpone them, not to shift them right, but, instead, we must respond to attempts to curb our development with maximum increase of the pace of work both on current and upcoming tasks," he said.
The head of state explained that this first and foremost applies to the social sphere. He underscored that issues that are most sensitive for the people must always remain in the focus of attention of the authorities.
"And in the extreme conditions of the Arctic, we are talking about health, safety of the people, about life support of entire cities and towns," the President said.
He noted that dealing with social, economic, infrastructural tasks in the northern territories, implementation of large-scale investment projects there have been and remain a priority for Russian authorities. Putin pointed out that hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens live and work in the Artic territories, "almost all areas of national security are concentrated there" - ecological, resource, military-political and technological ones.
The head of state noted that a number of transport and logistics chains are currently disrupted due to actions of unfriendly states. Some foreign companies stopped fulfilling their contractual obligations or do it only partially.
"Of course, it creates certain complications for us in the current situation, but we have all resources and all capabilities to quickly find alternative solution, and, in the long-term perspective, to even further reinforce our independence from external factors. An extremely important task," the President underscored.